Stamina Daddy

Stamina Daddy

When Stamina Daddy was released in 1993, 19-year-old Buju Banton was already one of the most popular musicians in Jamaican history. In 1992 he shattered Bob Marley’s record for most No. 1 hits in a single year. But whereas Marley became popular for an all-inclusive message of love and positivity, Banton represented a new era of aggression and virtuosity. Though it features riddims from esteemed Kingston producers like Winston Riley and Steely & Clevie, Stamina Daddy is all about the unstoppable force of Banton’s voice. Some of the album’s strongest tracks—“Gold Spoon,” “Mamby Size,” “Glamatize”—feature little more than a skeletal drum track, but Banton’s delivery is so inherently rhythmic that nothing else is needed. Sex and violence are Banton’s stock-in-trade, but his sermons are so relentless and inventive that the listener is left with no time to disagree. In the end, like the rap music that influenced it, Stamina Daddy is less about subject matter than its style and attitude. The riddim in “Quick” had been played thousands of times, but the young Banton found an entirely new way to set it afire.

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